The Central Bank organized a committee to open relations with foreign banks

The Iraqi Association of Private Banks announced on Wednesday the formation of the Central Bank of Iraq a committee to open relations with Arab and foreign banks, while confirming that Iraq will participate in a major Arab conference in New York City during the month of October next.

The Association said in a statement, “We organized a dialogue session in the presence of Central Bank representative Mazen Sabah, representative of the Union of Arab Banks Khawla al-Asadi, member of the parliamentary economy committee Mehdi al-Hafiz, directors of private and government banks and heads of branches of Arab and foreign banks operating in Iraq with the Minister of Economic Affairs at the US Embassy Larry Mimot and representative of the Treasury US in Iraq. ”

She added that “the dialogue session aims to open a new page of relations with foreign banks and specifically with the US banks,” indicating that “a committee formed by the Central Bank Mazen Sabah and agreed to form a delegation including government and private banks to visit the United States and establish strong relationships with correspondent banks Specifically the US. ”

She noted that “the Arab-American banking conference will be held in New York on the sixteenth of October next and Iraq will participate with a large banking delegation,” noting that “there is great confidence between the Association of Iraqi private banks and the US Treasury.” On the other hand, the Minister for Economic Affairs at the US Embassy, ​​Larry Mimot, said during the meeting, “I have seen the activities carried out by the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, including philanthropy and the development of human capacities working in the banking sector through training, specifically in the file of combating money laundering and financing terrorism.”

He pointed out that “the banking sector is one of the main reasons for the development of the Iraqi economy and we will work with the developers to develop it, and encourage Iraqi banks to open relations with the Association of American private banks.” He called Memot private banks to “the need to find new ways to lend to small projects because they contribute to the development of the relationship between banks and foreign companies that will lead to the development of relations with foreign banks,” pointing out that “the US government can not impose anything on private banks.”

Meanwhile, the representative of the Central Bank at the meeting, Mazen Sabah, that “Iraq is committed to international standards, specifically in the areas of combating money laundering, risk management, insurance and international accounting and there is a tightening of the central bank on the need to adhere to banks operating in Iraq these standards, , Indicating that “Iraq’s direction during the current stage to open relations with foreign banks and Arab and began to form a committee on this matter.” On the other hand, the representative of the Union of Arab Banks, the head of Rafidain Bank, Khawla Asadi, said that “the classification of the new Iraq is in the follow-up area after leaving the gray area;” noting that “Iraq is very much in the fight against money laundering.”

She stressed that “the Arab financial reports indicate that Iraq has an advanced classification of Arab, and we are working to develop relations with foreign correspondent banks.” In turn, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Development Bank, Ziad Khalaf, in an intervention during the meeting, “There are many Iraqi private banks are ready and comply with international standards and is ready to open accounts with foreign correspondent banks for the ownership of a cadre of excellence and policies and procedures are subject to international standards As well as integrated services. ”

While, asked the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of the South Ali Zaidi, is the problem of opening bank accounts in global banks lies with Iraqi banks or foreign banks, specifically the US.